


The Power Of Words

by ladyoneill



Series: Shadows Of The Moon: Full Moon Ficlets [60]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Homophobic Language, Kid Fic, M/M, Mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-05
Updated: 2014-05-05
Packaged: 2018-01-22 00:39:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1569602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyoneill/pseuds/ladyoneill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles is in the kitchen when Lily comes home with a disturbing question.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Power Of Words

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the fullmoon ficlet prompt "Over the Rainbow". I saw rainbow and went "gay" and this is what you get. Derogatory term about gay people spoken by a child used here.

"Daddy?"

Distracted by an overly complicated recipe for potato salad, Stiles murmurs, "Hm, sweetie?" without looking at his eldest daughter just home from school. Frowning at the recipe on his tablet, he picks up a knife and starts peeling the still warm potatoes.

Are you and papa homos?"

Shocked, he lets the knife slip, cutting across his finger. Yelping at the burst of pain, he stabs the finger into his mouth and spins to find Lily looking up at him with confusion and concern.

"Daddy? Are you okay? I'm sorry," she cries, near tears. "I didn't mean to make you hurt yourself."

Pulling his finger from his mouth, Stiles frowns at the blood seeping from the shallow cut, and grabs a clean towel from the drawer, wrapping it around his whole hand as his mind tries to process Lily's question. "Lily, I'm fine. It's okay," he says as he drops into a crouch and brushes his uninjured hand over one of her trembling shoulders. "Where did you hear that?"

"Is it bad? I thought it might be bad because James had a nasty look on his face when he said it." A couple tears slip down her cheeks and she sniffles. "I'm sorry, daddy. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, Lily, you definitely should have asked," Stiles confirms as, in his mind, he runs through images of her first grade classmates, trying to picture James. He knows there's a Jimmy--his mother works at the hospital--but he doesn't remember James. "Honey, don't cry. It's not a nice word, but you didn't know and I'm not mad."

Nodding, she sniffles again and Stiles plucks a kleenex from the box on the counter and wipes her face, then takes her hand and guides her to the table, seating her first before taking his usual chair at one end.

"Do you know why he said that?"

"He's mean. I heard him call Mandy a bad name last week. I just...I didn't know that word and he said it about you and papa."

Sighing, Stiles is glad his mate is at the park with their younger two cubs, even though he's not ready for this discussion. He knows Peter will go ballistic, so he'll fill him in later, maybe when he's too sleepy from sex to throw a fit and go hunt down the kid. 

"It's a shortened form of homosexual and it's used to make fun of people or hurt them. A homosexual is a man who loves another man or a woman who loves a woman. Love like your papa and I share, not just friends like me and Uncle Scott," he explains further, trying to keep it simple.

"Is that...bad?" Lily hesitantly asks. "'Cause James made it sound bad and the boys he was with laughed like it was bad."

"There are some people who think it's wrong," Stiles says quietly, gently squeezing the little fingers resting in his good hand. "That only men and women should fall in love and live together and have babies, but that idea is going away. Slowly, but it's changing."

"Why do they think that way?"

"That's very complicated. There are a lot of reasons. Papa and I'll try to explain as you get older, but just know that we're not bad or wrong for how we feel and you aren't either for being the daughter of two men." He's afraid that's what this James was really saying. In his head he's already putting together the rational argument he'll be having with Lily's teacher and principal. In this day and age, this kind of bigotry is not something he's going to tolerate, but he knows it's not the kid's fault. One of his parents or an older sibling said something first.

Oh, yeah, Peter's definitely going to go ballistic.

Lily's little brow furrows and her thick eyebrows frown--he still can't believe she has Derek's eyebrows. "Papa was married to a lady, right? How come he's a homoses...um...?"

"Homosexual, but you can say 'gay', too, Lily. And you can love both, but your papa and I both decided to be mates and mates are for life." Way, way more complicated than that, but Lily's too young for the whole truth, and, frankly, Stiles isn't ready to lay it all out for her.

"And you do the sex thing like a man and woman?"

Blushing, Stiles nods and tries not to face palm at her honestly curious question and the fact that they've been open about sex anytime the kids have questions. Jesus, parenting in the twenty-first century with kids with heightened senses is hard.

"Okay." Lily nods determinedly. "James is a doodoo head."

An uncontrollable laugh bursts from Stiles and he leans down to buzz a kiss on her cheek. "Yeah, but don't say that to him or anyone else, okay?"

"Okay. Do you need a bandaid, daddy?"

A bit bemused at her easy change of subject and her very adult look as she peers at his wrapped hand, Stiles peels away the towel and sees the bleeding has stopped.

"Nope. I'm fine."

"But you had an owie and you should get a cookie."

"I suppose I deserve one," he slowly admits, not at all fooled by her calm and collected manner.

"I should get one, too."

"And why is that?"

"I wanted to punch James in the nose but I didn't."

Laughing again, Stiles gets up to fetch two chocolate chip cookies from the cookie jar. He could argue with her, but, really, she does deserve a cookie.

Because, along with the eyebrows, she got Derek's temper, too.

And her papa's. Oh, Peter is going to be so pissed...

Sex, yeah, really exhausting sex first, then he'll tell him. A second cookie will bribe Lily into not mentioning what happened. He's not above using sweets to keep the peace in his house.

End


End file.
